Local

2024: The first open-air Id-ul-Fitr namaz in New Town takes place at the fairground near Biswa Bangla Gate on April 11. Public namaz had started in the township previous year at Action Area 1 community hall but space was limited. This year about 1,200 devotees attended the congregation, organised by New Town Citizens’ Fraternity. In 2026 however the venue shifts away again.

National

1538: Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri captures Gauda, the capital of the Bengal Sultanate, from Mughal ruler Humayun — a key victory that paves way for his coronation as Sultan of Hindustan later. Sher Shah is recognised as one of the greatest administrative rulers in India, issuing the first Rupiya, organising the postal system of the subcontinent, and extending the Grand Trunk Road from Chittagong to Kabul to boost trade. By the end of his reign, his empire covers nearly all of Northern India.

1859: Merchant and philanthropist Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy dies on April 14. The Bombay-based Parsi amassed huge wealth in cotton and opium trade with China and donated over £2,30,000 to charity for hospitals, schools, pension funds as well as financing public works like wells, reservoirs, bridges, and causeways. He becomes the first British subject in India to be bestowed knighthood and baronetcy by Queen Victoria.

1901: Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Works is founded on April 12. Chemist Prafulla Chandra Ray had started it a few years ago as an individual endeavor to provide employment to youths, but it is converted into a limited company in 1901, starting with a single factory in Maniktala and later expanding to other cities. The company continues into the 21st century manufacturing industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and household products.

Global

1725: Giacomo Casanova is born on April 2. The Italian traveller is a gambler and conman, posing as an aristocrat, and gains favours from the rich by pretending to have magical secret knowledge. He meets popes, monarchs, and icons like Mozart and Voltaire but is most notorious for his umpteen affairs with women, right from adolescence to his old age. The word Casanova in fact becomes an adjective for “male seducer”. His autobiography however becomes an important source of insight on the customs of European social life in his times.

1867: George Hudson is born on April 20. The British entomologist (scientist who studies insects) works at a post office in New Zealand where his shift-work job allows him to collect insects after hours. He comes to value after-hours daylight and presents a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift. His idea helps lay the foundation for practice of Daylight Saving Time —advancing clocks in summer months to better align daylight hours with people’s active hours.

1918: Salote Tupou III is proclaimed Queen of Tonga on April 6. The Polynesian Queen, who stands at a towering height of 6ft 3”, reins for 48 years. She leads the country through the second World War and brings Tonga to global attention during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II when it begins to rain and hoods are placed on the carriages in the procession. Tongan custom says one mustn’t imitate the actions of persons one is honouring and so she rides through the rain, endearing herself to spectators.

Sports, entertainment

1974: Victoria Adams is born in England on April 17. She tastes fame as Posh Spice in the ‘90s girl band Spice Girls. Once the group disbands, she pursues a solo music career, starts a fashion house and comes to be recognised as a designer as well as style icon. Most famously, she marries English footballer David Beckham.

1928: Maya Angelou is born on April 4. The American grows up to become a writer, poet, and civil rights activist whose works explore themes of identity, racism, and resilience. She rises to fame with her 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first of seven memoirs that chronicle her childhood trauma, work as a nightclub performer, sex worker, and journalist in Africa. Closely involved in the Civil Rights Movement, Angelou also collaborates with Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X.

1997: Golfer Tiger Woods achieves a historic win in the Masters Tournament in Georgia, USA, on April 13. The 21-year-old finishes with a record-breaking score of 18-under-par. His 12-stroke victory is the largest in Masters history at the time. This event marks a turning point in his career and changes the landscape of golf forever.